Lost Hope: A New Life
by BLUENIGHT23
Summary: THIS IS THE SEQUEL TO LOST HOPE: THE BEGINNING! Erin Johnson is a young survivor of an apocalypse that has wiped out most of the world's population. She continues to struggle with this new life style of never feeling completely safe and always having to watch her own back as well as others as she continues to fight to survive in a world infested with walking corpses. Carl/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey, I'm back with a new ****Lost Hope** **story. This one takes place during season two. I hope you guys enjoy! :D**

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter One**

The world is nothing like it used to be and it won't ever be the same again. At least half the population has been wiped out. There is no more government, no more armies; nothing that could save us from this new world. We either have to adapt quickly to this new life or die. My name is Erin Johnson. I am eleven years old and I am a survivor of the most traumatic event to ever take place in history; an apocalypse. My uncle has been killed in the apocalypse, leaving no one else in my family alive. My uncle was all I had, but then I found a group of other survivors who became my new family. They take care of me and treat me like I am one of their own. All we have is each other.

We have recently come upon a place we thought was safe called the CDC, but it wasn't as safe as we had expected; it was just another dead end. It was made to explode when the fuel ran out and that's exactly what happened. Luckily we had escaped, aside from Jacqui who chose to stay behind. She didn't want to face what has become of the world anymore. Safety is only an illusion to us now; something to comfort a person just for awhile before they realize the reality of what was really going on. One can only hope and dream about safety.

My group decided on trying to head to Fort Benning, another place that could be "safe". Who knows, maybe it may actually be safe, but of course that is just a dream for all of us. We all know that the journey is going to be hard, maybe even impossible, but there is nothing left in Atlanta for us; it belongs to the dead now. There is only a few of us now, so we need to stick together and fight for each other, because our only chance of surviving this, is each other.

I sat between Carl and Sophia as we began our journey to Fort Benning.

"We were just thinking about our trip to the Grand Canyon with Carl." Lori told us.

Rick started laughing, remembering.

"I don't remember that." Carl said looking at his parents in confusion.

"No, you wouldn't you were just a baby." Lori told him laughing. "And besides we never even made it past Fort Worth."

"You got sick." Rick said laughing more. "I never knew a baby could throw up so much."

"Eww." Sophia and I said in unison laughing.

"Ick." Carl said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Yeah, ick." Lori said laughing. "But the doctor in Texas said you will live and we turned around and went home."

"That sucks." Carl told them.

"Nah, it was a good trip." Lori told him. "Even though you were throwing up half the time."

"The best." Rick said smiling.

"Can we go see it; the Grand Canyon someday?" Carl asked hopeful. "I would like to."

"I would too." Sophia told them. "Can we go?" she asked referring to her and her mother.

"And Erin too?" Carl said nudging me. I smiled.

"We would never go without you guys." Rick said glancing back at us smiling. "That's a promise."

"It will be the best vacation ever!" Carl said getting excited. "Erin, have you ever been to the Grand Canyon before?"

"Once, a long time ago when my dad's job took us to Arizona for a few weeks." I said smiling. "It seemed like we were so high up so I got scared and ran all the way back to the tourist offices. It took my parents two hours to find me."

Everyone started laughing, but we all stopped when we noticed that the others in front of us slow down and come to a stop.

"What's going on?" I asked Rick.

"I'm not sure." Rick said stopping the vehicle. Then we realized why they stopped; there were vehicles all over the road that blocked us from going on any farther. They started to move again slowly to try to steer through all the cars. I got nervous and tensed up a bit; there could be walkers around. Carl noticed me tense up and held my hand. I looked over at Sophia to see that she looked nervous too so I held her hand as well. We could see dead people in some of the cars that we drove by.

We didn't get too far before Dale's R.V. started acting up again. Rick pulled the car to a stop and we all got out. We walked up to where Dale was who told us it was the radiator hose again. Daryl began looting through some of the vehicles to look for stuff that we could possibly use.

"What are you doing?" Dale asked him.

"Well if we can't find a radiator hose there probably a bunch of other things we can find in these vehicles." Daryl said continuing to look through a car.

"This is a grave yard." Lori said in slight protest. "I don't know how I feel about this."

The others thought about it for a second and decided to look for stuff anyways because we were desperate.

I walked with Carl as we began looking in vehicles for stuff we could use. I cringed when we walked to a car with a dead woman inside. Carl opened one of the back doors and began looking to see if he can find anything. I walked around to the other side and did the same thing.

"Erin, I found some pill bottles." Carl said holding up a bag with different types of medicine inside.

I smiled. "That's good. Those can be useful sometime."

Then we saw Rick running towards us with a terrified look. "Walkers, get down!" He whispered motioning for us to get under the car. Carl and I ducked and climbed under the car. I saw Lori and Carol do the same under another car. I looked the other way and saw that Sophia had gotten under another car close to the edge of the road. Then the walkers started to pass. I held my breath and waited. If I made the tiniest sound I would alert all those walkers and let them know that we are here. I looked at Carl who was right next to me, watching the walker pass by. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch.

I listened as more passed by. I felt Carl scoot closer to me so that he was more hidden. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer to the middle so that I was more hidden as well. I put my hand over my mouth to keep myself from making any noise that would attract the walkers. When I didn't hear any more walkers passing by I slowly opened my eyes. I looked around and didn't see anymore. Carl looked at me and smiled. I looked over to Sophia to see her slowly starting to climb out from under the car she was under, but then, another walker that had been walking a bit far behind from the others, saw her. Sophia began nervously crying and climbed out on the opposite site of the car with the walker following her. I felt scared for her and was beginning to get out from under the vehicles, but Carl stopped me pointing at more walkers that were still passing by.

Sophia ran off the road and into the forest with the walkers following her. I then saw Rick holding his rifle running after her. Carl and I climbed out from under the car. I saw Carol already running towards the direction Sophia went.

"Lori, there are two walkers after my baby!" She said crying. Lori grabbed her and stopped her from running any farther and hugged her. We all waited on the side of the road for Rick to return back with Sophia, but when Rick came back, there was no Sophia. "Where's Sophia?" Carol asked crying more.

"She isn't here?" Rick asked shocked. "I told her how to run back if she decided to not wait for me."

Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Shane went back into the forest to look for her. Lori continued to comfort Carol. I walked into the R.V. to see Andrea with blood splatters on her and shakily trying to put her gun together.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

She nodded and continued trying to figure out her pistol. "Just a little freaked, that's all."

I watched as she tried to put her gun back together, but noticed that she had it all wrong. "Here, it goes like this." I took the pistol from her and rearranged the parts to fit where they went and handed it back to her. "There." I told her. "Good as new." I knew how to work guns because my dad had taught me how to as soon as I was able. He was a marine before he died three years ago.

Andrea looked at me funny, but said nothing.

"Sophia was chased into the woods by walkers." I said looking down sadly. "Some of the others are out looking for her."

Andrea nodded sadly. "I hope they find her."

"Me too." I said walking back out of the R.V.

I saw Carl was outside waiting for me. "Dad wants us to continue looking for things we can use."

"Okay." I smiled. I decided to try to stop worrying about Sophia. Rick will find her soon. The adults were beginning to move cars out of the way so that we could turn around and head back to a bypass that Glenn had found on the map.

"Erin, look." Carl said pointing to the inside of a truck where a dead man was sitting. "There is something in his hands." He came around to the other side and slowly opened the door.

"Carl, what if it's a walker." I said nervously.

"It's not, look; his head's been shot." Carl told me pointing to the bullet hole in the dead man's head. Carl began pulling on the bag that he was holding to try to free it from his grip. He gave one last pull and it gave away causing Carl to fall back on me. I noticed I got a small scratch and that it was starting to bleed.

"Erin, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" He asked me concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's in the pouch?" I asked pointing to the pouch he had in his hands. He laid it out on the ground and opened it up. It had a small axe in it and several knives and tools. "Sweet! You found an arsenal!" I said excitedly smiling at Carl.

Carl blushed and smiled back. "Come on, let's go show Shane." We ran back to where everyone else was. "Shane!"

"Carl, what's wrong?" Lori asked running over worried.

"Mom, I found something cool!" Carl said laying the pouch out on the ground and opening it up. "Shane, check it out; it's an arsenal." Carl told him excitedly.

"That's cool, bud, why don't you go bring it to Dale." Shane told him not sounding too thrilled about it at all.

"Check this one out." Carl said pulling out the small axe. "It's a hatchet."

I pulled out one of the knives and began examining it. It was a nice knife. "Carl, look at this one!" I said smiling handing him the knife.

"Whoa cool." Carl said taking the knife and examining it. "Can I keep one?" Carl asked his mom.

"Are you crazy?" Lori asked taking the knife and hatchet away.

"No way, you're not going to let me keep one?" Carl asked disappointed. "Shane, tell her to let me keep one."

"Come on, man. I told you to give them all to Dale." He told him. "Now, go!"

Carl looked down sadly and took grabbed the pouch and began running off. I slowly followed him. I could see that he was crushed that Shane yelled at him. Carl gave the pouch to Dale and went into the R.V. He walked over to the couch and sat down. I walked over and sat beside him.

"I'm sure Shane is just worried about_" I started saying.

"Just leave me alone!" Carl snapped.

I jumped to his sudden outburst and looked at him a little hurt. "I'm, sorry. I just want to_"

"I said go!" Carl yelled at me.

I felt my eyes water up. I ran out of the R.V. before I started crying. Carl had never yelled at me before. I felt a tear fall down my cheek, but I quickly wiped away so no one would notice, but it didn't go completely unnoticed.

"Are you okay?" Andrea asked me concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I told her looking down at the ground.

"You don't look like your fine." Andrea continued.

"I'm just a bit concerned about Sophia, that's all." I told her, which was true; I was worried about Sophia, but that wasn't why I was crying.

"I'm sure Rick and the others will find her." She told me pulling me into a side hug.

I smiled hugging her back. "Yeah you're right, thanks."

_(Carl's Pov.)_

I don't know what had gotten into me; I had just yelled at Erin. I know she was trying to help, but I was just so crushed by Shane, I guess I just let my anger out on her. I ran to the window of the R.V. and saw Erin standing outside wiping a tear away from her eyes. I can't believe it; I made Erin cry. I felt awful. I was about to go outside and apologize, but I saw Andrea begin to talk to her and changed my mind. I went back down and sat on the couch, wiping my own tears away from my face. I will apologize to her, for sure, but I want it to be when we are alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Two**

_(Erin's Pov.)_

"Did you find Sophia?" I asked when I saw Rick and the others walk back. Carol walked over with a hopeful look in her eyes, but it quickly diminished when she didn't see Sophia with them.

Rick look at the ground sadly.

"You didn't find her?" Carol asked starting to cry again.

"The trail went cold. We will pick it up again, first thing in the morning." Rick told her.

"You can't leave my daughter out there alone to spend the night alone in the woods." Carol told him.

"Looking for her in the dark will be no good. We will just be tripping over ourselves trying to find her." Daryl told her.

"But she's twelve; she can't be out there all on her own." Carol told them. "You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic." Rick told her.

I looked down at the ground sadly.

"We were able to track her for awhile." Daryl said trying to make her feel a little better.

Carol then saw read liquid on Daryl's leg. "Is that blood?" She asked nervously.

"We took down a walker." Rick said carefully, knowing that she would get nervous again. "But there was no sign that she was anywhere near Sophia." He assured her.

"How can you be sure?" Andrea asked.

Rick and Daryl exchanged nervous glances. "We cut it open." Daryl told them.

Carol started getting even more upset so I walked away not wanting to see anymore. I silently prayed that Sophia will be alright and that we would find her.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned to see Carl looking down. "I need to talk to you." He told me quietly. "In the R.V." I nodded and followed him into the R.V. "I'm sorry I yelled at you." He said sadly. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"You saw that?" I asked embarrassed.

He nodded sadly. "I was just so upset and crushed that it made me in a bad mood."

"I should've just stayed out of your business, though. I should've just let you be." I told him.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm sorry, Erin. Can you forgive me?" he asked still looking at the ground.

I nodded. "Of course." He looked up and smiled slightly, but I could still tell he felt pretty guilty. "Don't worry; everyone gets upset once in a while."

Carl smile and nodded not looking as guilty. "Hey, I got something for you." He told me. He ran over to a cabinet in the R.V. and pulled out the knife that I was looking at earlier from the pouch. "I saw how much you liked it, so I saved it for you." He held out the knife and blushed.

I smiled happily and pulled Carl into a hug. "Thanks." I whispered in his ear. He began hugging me back and we stayed like that for several minutes until Dale walked in.

"What are you two doing?" Dale asked eying us funny.

We immediately pulled apart and blushed. I hid the knife behind my back so that he wouldn't see.

"Um, I was just showing Erin how to…." Carl started saying.

"Stay warm in Antarctica!" I blurted out before I realized how stupid it sounded.

"Yeah…..how to stay warm in Antarctica….." Carl said looking at me funny.

Dale laughed knowingly and we slipped passed him out of the R.V.

"How to stay warm in Antarctica?" Carl asked me smirking at my attempt to cover up us hugging.

"Shut up." I said shoving him slightly. "That's all I could think of."

"Carl, Erin!" Lori called over to us. "You two will be sleeping with us in the car." She told us referring to her and Rick.

We nodded and walked over to the car. We both got into the back seat.

"We only have one blanket to spare, so you two are going to have to share." Rick told us handing us a blanket. Carl blushed as he took the blanket from Rick. I scooted closer to him and he wrapped the blanket around us.

"We will be right back." Lori told us. "We are going to check on everyone else."

We nodded and walked back to the others.

"Too bad we don't have any pillows." I say laughing.

"Yeah, that would be nice." Carl said leaning with his back against the Car door. "If you want…..you can….use me as a pillow." Carl told me blushing.

I blushed too. "You wouldn't mind?" I asked him.

"No, you would be keeping me warm." He told me smiling.

"Okay." I replied. I leaned my body into him and he wrapped his arms around my stomach to make it more comfortable. We blushed at how close we were to each other. "Do you think your dad will be able to find Sophia?" I asked trying to make things less awkward.

"I hope so." He told me. "Maybe we will even find her ourselves."

"Yeah." I said smiling. "Goodnight, Carl."

"Goodnight, Erin." He told me. Soon we were both asleep.

"Time to wake up you two." I heard Rick say. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at him to see that he was smirking. Then I felt someone shift behind me, remembering that I had slept on Carl. "Did you sleep alright?"

I blushed and moved away from Carl. "Um, yeah, I slept fine." I answered.

"Me too." Carl said blushing as well.

We climbed out of the Car and walked to the others. The others were planning to go out and look for Sophia. I grabbed some crackers from our food stack and began eating my breakfast. I handed some to Carl and he began eating them too.

We walked over to where Rick was talking to Dale. "Can you keep an eye on Carl and Erin?

"We're going with you." Carl told him. "We want to look for Sophia too." I nodded. "You need people right, so that we can cover as much ground as possible."

I could see that Rick was debating in his head whether or not to let us go. He looked over at Lori to see is she had any protests

"Well, I can't always be the bad guy." She told us smirking.

"Well they have all of you to look after him, so I would say they are in good hands." Dale said smiling.

"Okay, you can come." Rick told us smiling.

"Yes!" Carl and I said in unison excitedly.

"But always stay within out sight, no exceptions." Rick told us.

We nodded eagerly. "Thanks." I told Dale giving him a quick hug for helping us go. He winked at us in return. I grabbed the knife that Carl had given me and decided to use it for defending myself in case anything was to happen. Soon we were off in the woods, searching for Sophia.

Carl's parents let him have a knife to and he was happy that they had finally let him keep one.

"Shane, look at this. Dad told me I can carry this and Mom_"

"Keep it down." Shane whispered harshly. Carl looked at him with hurt in his eyes. "We are looking for Sophia, and we need to focus on the task.

Carl walked up to his mom. "You got to keep up." Lori said encouragingly. "You okay?

"I think Shane is mad at me." Carl said sadly. "Did I so something wrong?"

"No, of course not." Lori told him. "He is just….worried about Sophia, that's all."

Carl nodded and began walking closer to me. I fidgeted with the knife that Carl gave me as we walked. "Thanks for letting me sleep on you last night." I told him blushing.

"Anytime….it was actually pretty comfortable." Carl told me smiling.

"Yeah it was." I said quietly. Then we all stopped because we saw a tent. Sophia could be inside. I felt hope begin to rise up in me. Daryl skimmed the area for walkers as he got closer to the tent. He looked through the flaps to see if he could see anything and shrugged his shoulders.

Rick gestured for Carol to walk closer. "If Sophia is inside, you voice should be the first she hears." He told her. "Call out softly."

Carol nodded. "Sophia, sweetie? Are you in there?" she called out but there was no reply. "Sophia, it's mommy. We are all here, baby." Still there was no reply.

Daryl pulled the flap and gagged..

"Daryl?" Carol called out wondering what he saw on the inside.

"It ain't her." Daryl told her stepping out of the tent.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"Just some man who decided to "opt out" or whatever you want to call it." Daryl told me. Hope of finding Sophia in the tent faded.

Suddenly we heard a bell start to ring. Maybe it was Sophia! We began to run in the direction the bell was coming from. Soon a church came into view surrounded by a cemetery.

"That can't be it. There's no steeple for the bell." Shane told us. Rick ignored him and began heading towards the church. I began to follow and soon we were all running towards the building. A few of us walked inside to see a few walkers sitting on the benches throughout different isles. They turned when they heard us and began walking towards us. Rick took a knife and stabbed on in the head. Daryl did the same with another one as well as Shane.

Then I noticed one that was behind the door and was about to take a bit out of Glenn's arm. I shoved Glenn out of the way and jammed my knife into its head as hard as I could. Glenn looked at me nervous noticing what was about to happen.

"Thanks." He told me and I nodded in return. Then the others walked in.

"I'm telling you Rick; the church has no steeple. The bell came from somewhere else." Then we heard the bell again and it was coming from right outside. We walked outside to see that it was playing on an automatic recorder. There was no Sophia. I kicked some dirt from the ground in disappointment.

Rick led Carl and I back inside and we sat down on one of the benches. I curled my legs to my chest and rested my arms on them. I felt even more worried about Sophia. We still haven't found her yet. She's been alone for a long time now. I know what it is like to be all alone in this world and I know she is probably terrified.

I felt Carl pat me on that back. "Don't worry. We'll find her." He told me still very hopeful.

I smiled at him. "I hope so."

Carol was at the front praying for Sophia; praying that they will find her and that she will be alright. Lori held Carol in a hug and tried her best to comfort her.

It wasn't long before we were out in the woods searching for Sophia again. We had decided to slit up. I went with Carl, Rick, and Shane, while the others headed back to where Dale and T-Dog were. Carl and I had strayed a little ways from Rick and Shane; but we still stayed in their sight. Then Carl saw something.

"Erin, look." Carl told me pointing through trees with a smile on his face. I looked to see what he was pointing at; a big buck with antlers. We quietly got closer until we were almost able to reach out and touch it. It didn't look like it was scared of us at all, but then I got that uneasy feeling I get right before something bad happens. "It's beautiful isn't it, Erin?" Carl whisper to me.

I nodded. "Yes, but Carl, something seems wrong." I whispered to him.

"Everything's alright." Carl assured me. "There aren't any walkers around. It's quiet and peaceful."

"Too quiet." I muttered under my breath.

The deer looked at Carl as he got closer. Carl looked at it with awe. The deer wasn't afraid. Carl reached out his hand to touch it, but then I heard a loud gunshot go off and both the deer and Carl fell to the ground.

"CARL!" I shouted in horror.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

**Lost Hope: A New Life**

**Chapter Three**

I was at Carl's side in an instant. "Carl!" I shouted but he didn't reply. He had a hole in his side with blood beginning to see out. I took both my hands and placed them over the hole to keep the blood from coming out. I was bawling. I took one of my hands off the wound and placed two fingers on his neck to feel for a pulse. He was still alive, but I didn't know how much longer he would survive unless he got some serious help.

A man ran over to me carrying a hunting rifle. He looked shocked and tried putting his hands on my shoulder to comfort me.

"Don't touch me!" I yelled at him. The man backed away with his hands up. Still keeping one hand on Carl's wound I moved my other hand up to his cheek to stroke it, smearing his own blood on his face. "Please, Carl. Please don't die. I need you. Please don't die."

Rick and Shane came running over.

"No!" Rick shouted running over to his son's lifeless body.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see him." The man said shakily.

"What do I do? My son is dying." Rick took over and put his hands over Carl's wound.

"Take him to Hershel, he will know what to do." The man said pointing in a certain direction.

Rick picked the lifeless Carl up into his arms and began running. Shane and the man followed.

"How far?" Rick asked the man. "How far?"

"Bout a half mile that way." The man said jogging behind us. "Ask for Hershel; he can help your boy."

I ran ahead with Rick. Soon we came upon a country house and realized that was the place the man was talking about.

I ran ahead and banged on the doors. "Help, help! He's been shot. Please help us." Rick came up behind me and a lady with short brown hair who looked to be in her twenties opened the door with a concerned look. "Please help us." I pleaded with her crying.

"Dad!" She called into the house. Soon an old man with white hair came out of the house followed by a middle-aged woman, a teenage girl, and a teenage boy carrying a baseball bat.

"Please you got to help him, he's my best friend." I pleaded.

"Was he bit?" The man asked Rick.

"No, shot, by your man." Rick told them.

"Otis?" The middle-aged woman asked.

"Are you Hershel? Please help my boy." Rick said crying as well.

"Bring him inside!" the man that was apparently Hershel said. Rick carried Carl inside following Hershel. "Patricia, I'm going to need my kit; pain killers, everything. Clean towels, sheets, alcohol…" he continued giving instructions and led Rick into a room with a bed and began moving sheets from the bed. Rick set Carl on the bed and they removed his shirt. I began to cry harder as I saw Carl covered in his own blood. I got out of the way of the others and ran to the other side of the bed. I knelt down and grabbed Carl's lifeless hand.

"Is he alive?" I heard Rick ask. Hershel ignored him and continued giving instructions to the others who were in the house. He handed Rick a towel and instructed him to put pressure on the wound as he listened for a heartbeat.

"I got a heartbeat." Hershel told us. I held Carl's hand tighter.

"Okay I got it." The middle-aged woman told Rick. "You need to give us space now." Rick took a few steps back.

"What are your names?" Hershel asked.

"Rick, I'm Rick." Rick told him looking like he was in shock. I said nothing.

"Rick, we are going to everything we can to save your boy, okay, but you need to give us some room." Hershel told him.

Rick slowly walked over to where I was and gently pulled me away from Carl. He pulled me outside and I collapsed onto the patio crying. I saw Shane and the other man running up to us.

"Is he alive?" The man asked shakily.

Rick rubbed his face smearing Carl's blood on it. Shane pulled a rag out from his bag and rubbed it off of him. Rick was in shock, and didn't seem to be thinking to clearly at the moment. Rick noticed the blood on his hands and began to cry more. Rick stumbled back into the house with Shane and the man who shot Carl following him. I stood up and walked inside with them.

"You know his blood type?" Hershel asked Rick when he saw him.

"A-positive; same as mine." He replied.

"Me too." I told him shakily.

"That's fortunate. Don't wander too far; I'm going to need you two." Hershel told us. "What happened?"

"I was trying to get a buck; bullet went straight through it." The man who shot Carl said quietly.

"Well it certainly slowed the bullet down; may be why the boy's still alive, but it did not go through clean. It broke up into pieces. I could get the bullet fragments out; I'm counting six.

"I never saw him." The man said shakily. "I didn't see him till he was on the ground."

The lady named Patricia walked over and hugged the man to comfort him. I could tell that he felt very guilty and bad about what he had done.

"Lori, she doesn't know." Rick said shakily. "My wife doesn't know that her son's been shot."

I walked over to the side of the bed where I wouldn't get in anyone's way and grabbed Carl's hand again. "Please hang on, Carl." I said quietly. "I need you, please don't leave me. You're my best friend." I was still crying; I tried to stop, but the tears kept coming.

"Hun, why don't you come with me, and give them some room to work." The lady with short brown hair told me pulling me away from Carl. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

I did reply; I just watched Carl lay there. The lady noticed that my hands were still covered in Carl's blood.

"Come on, let's go wash that off of you." The lady brought me to a bathroom and turned on the sink. She pulled some rags out from under the sink and got them wet. She took one and placed it to my hand. I gasped and pulled my hand away; they had warm water.

"What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" The lady asked, startled by my sudden movement.

"The water; it's warm." I told her quietly, surprised that they had warm water in their house.

"Is it too hot; because I can turn it down if it is…."

"No, it feels good." I told her letting her continue washing the blood of my hands.

The small smile appeared on the ladies face. "You're acting like you haven't felt warm water for a long time."

"That's because we haven't." I told her quietly. "Well I mean, we did have warm water at the CDC, but it exploded." The lady looked at me funny when I told her it exploded and handed me a towel to dry my hand off, letting me know that she had gotten the blood off. "How do you still have hot water?" I asked her.

"Well, we use natural recourses to get power on the farm." She told me. "I'm Maggie. What's your name?"

"Erin." I answered.

The lady smiled. "Well ,Erin, we are going to do everything in our power to help your friend."

I nodded and tried to smile a little, but I found that I couldn't. I realized that I had stopped crying, probably just because I didn't have any cry left in me. I then heard another cry. It came from Carl. I ran out of the bathroom and into the room Carl was in. He was awake and in a lot of pain. Hershel was trying to pull one of the bullet fragments out with others trying to hold him down to keep him from moving.

"Rick, he need's blood." Maggie told Rick as she came into the room behind me. Rick rushed in and the lady named Patricia started prepping his arm so that they would be able to get blood from him and transfer it to Carl.

"Dad!" Carl cried as he continued to struggle against the people that were holding him down.

I stood there shaking; seeing him in a lot of pain scared me. He screamed out really loudly when Hershel pull at one of the bullet fragments from his side.

"Stop, you're killing him!" Rick shouted pulling away from Patricia.

"Rick, if you want him to live, he needs blood!" Hershel yelled to him.

"Do it now, Rick!" Shane shouted to him as he ran to try to hold Carl down.

Rick gave his arm back to Patricia and he put a needle inside of him. Then I heard Carl go silent. I looked over to him; he looked like he was dead.

"He just passed out." Hershel assured everyone, noticing the look on people's faces when Carl had stopped crying. Hershel pulled the bullet fragment from his side. "One down, five to go." Hershel told everyone examining the fragment.

Patricia hooked Rick up to an instrument that would transfer blood into Carl's body and sat him down next to Carl. After snapping out of shock from seeing my friend in pain, I ran to the other side of the bed and once again held Car's hand. Patricia then attached the iv to Carl's arm and Rick's blood started going into Carl's arm.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Patricia told Rick. I realized that the others had cleared out of the room leaving just her, Rick, me, and Carl. "But I can only pull so much blood from you, before you might pass out. I may need the girl to give the boy blood, too." She said referring to me. Hershel walked back in to check Carl's blood pressure.

"Pressure is almost stable." He told Rick

"Lori needs to be here. She needs to know that her son has been shot. I got to go find her.

"You can't do that." Hershel told him softly.

"She's his mother." Rick told him. "She needs to know what happened."

"He is going to need more blood." Hershel said.

"Erin has the same blood; I can just go out and be back in an instant." Rick told them.

"But I can only pull so much blood from her too." Patricia told him. "I need you both here."

"Don't let them go within fifty feet from the boy." Hershel instructed Shane.

Shane nodded, understanding. Patricia pulled the needle out of Rick's arm and Rick stood up shakily, weak from blood loss. Patricia stabled him at first, but then Shane came and took over. Patricia then motioned for me to come over. I made my way over to where Rick was sitting. Patricia switched out the needle and a different one in. She then grabbed my arm and began cleaning it off. I had a big fear of needles and normally would do my best to avoid them, but this was for Carl, so I pushed the fear aside. She stuck the needle in my arm and I began to watch as my blood began to enter Carl.

Carl actually looked peaceful, spite the situation he was in. After several minutes, Patricia checked the blood pressure and pulled the needle out.

"It's stable now." She told Hershel referring to the blood pressure. I stood up and walked back over to the other side of the bad. I knelt on the ground and continued to watch Carl. I heard Shane lead Rick out of the room. I stroked Carl's hand; it actually felt warmer than the other times I held it. That gave me a little more hope that Carl will be alright, but just a little. I knew he still had five more fragments launched into his side; even deeper than the first. I didn't want to see Carl in pain like that ever again, but I may not have a choice.

"You should probably eat something." Patricia told me. "It will give you more energy for when I need to take more blood."

"I'm not hungry." I told her continuing to stare at Carl.

"But you will be very weak after the next time I need blood, if you don't eat something." She told me.

"I will be alright." I told her. "Besides, I'm used to not eating much now. We've been short on food for awhile now."

She nodded quietly. I felt Carl's hand move in mine. I looked up at his face to see if he was awake again, but his eyes were still shut.

"Don't worry; Hershel says he's out of danger for now." Patricia said, noticing the concern on my face. I stared at Carl's face and gently reached out to touch it. His face was cold. I hated seeing him so lifeless. I just wanted him back to his normal self. I began thinking back to the event when Carl was shot; trying to figure out if there was anything I could have done differently that could've saved his life. I wished it was me in that bed and not him. If he died he would be leaving so much behind; his mom, his dad, the group that had become our family, and me. I have no more family in this world, so it wouldn't matter a lot if I died; it should be me in that bed, not Carl.


End file.
